Rafael Nadal is gearing up for his comeback into professional tennis, with his first big target being the Australian Open 2024. At the start of 2022, Nadal returned after another lengthy layoff and contrary to most expectations, won the Australian Open immediately on his return. The Spaniard beat Danill Medvedev in the final and after the match, explained how he produced a victory from nowhere. The video has gone viral on social media, which is a delight for his fans, creating pure nostalgia.
This time, a repeat of 2022 might be next to impossible. This is because in the main draw, Rafael Nadal is the 102nd player to be named as he used his protecting ranking of 9 to make it directly into the draw. At the moment, he is ranked outside the top 650 of the ATP rankings.
However, some tennis enthusiasts remain hopeful as Rafael Nadal is known for having a fighting spirit perhaps like no other tennis player ever. Afer the 2022 Australian Open final, Nadal was asked about how he went about producing one of the greatest comebacks of all-time in the sport. Being two sets down and 1-4 in the third set at one point of the match, it seemed that he wasn’t going to win his 21st Grand Slam title.
Rafael Nadal admitted that the baggage of losing multiple Australian Open finals in the past weighed on his mind. However, he channelised that energy positively by believing that his luck would turn around as the match wasn’t over till the last point played. It is this mental strength that Nadal’s opponents such as Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz and Dominic Thiem have admitted, make the Spaniard extremely dangerous and is arguably, his USP.
Nadal was quoted as saying in that press conference –
“Sport is unpredictable and if you fight till the end, normal thing is to lose the match in straight sets after that situation. I was repeating to myself a lot of times during the match that I had lost a lot of times here (in Australian Open finals), having chances, sometimes I was bit unlucky. So I wanted to keep believing until the end. I wanted to give myself a chance and that’s what I did.”
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Rafael Nadal Australian Open 2024 outfit confirmed
Rafael Nadal is still contracted with Nike and the American sportswear giant recently zeroed down upon on the 2-time Australian Open champion’s outfit for the 2024 edition. Nadal has reportedly opted for a blue monochrome outfit, which is way different from his attires in the last 2-3 years. In the Australian Open 2023, when he was knocked out in the second round, he was wearing an orange tee and that was the last visual fans had of the superstar, before he opted out of the entire season.
Rafael Nadal’s 2024 Australian Open outfit
@cal1tennisR pic.twitter.com/cwtstb2Q7V
— Olly (@Olly_Tennis_) December 20, 2023
Prior to the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal will play at the invitational Brisbane International 2024 tournament at the start of January 2024. He was recently seen training in Kuwait, giving his fans huge hopes ahead of the season. Currently, he is back in Mallorca and his long-time rival, Richard Gasquet, who last trained with him, believes that it won’t be too long before the 22-time Grand Slam champion gets back to his best.
